Credible Security places a strong emphasis on trust as a key component of cybersecurity strategy
Teaching students or studying the classics may not seem like the typical path for cybersecurity professionals, but the founders of Credible Security believe that diverse backgrounds can be a powerful asset.
Launched at the start of 2025, the independent security consultancy focuses on business-to-business (B2B) companies offering cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions. It aims to support underserved teams within organisations, such as go-to-market teams with public-facing roles and early-stage companies still defining their security strategies.
Co-founder Josh Yavor emphasises that technical expertise alone is not enough to build an effective security framework. “Working together has taught us that the thing that makes the difference between an acceptable and a great approach to security within any organisation is not technical knowledge or skill sets or backgrounds,” he says. While qualifications are essential, a strong security team requires leadership that prioritises empathy, effective communication, and trust-based relationships.
Diversity Strengthens Security Strategy
The three co-founders—Yavor, Kim Burton, and Jessica Walters—bring a mix of experiences to Credible Security. The trio previously worked together at Tessian, Cisco, and Duo Security. Before joining the cybersecurity field, Yavor was a school teacher and ran an IT consulting business, Burton studied literature and classical languages in graduate school, and Walters was chief of staff at Cisco’s Security Business Group.
Their time at Duo Security, where they saw firsthand the benefits of a multidisciplinary team, reinforced their belief in diverse perspectives. After Duo was acquired by Cisco in 2018, they continued working together and later reunited at Tessian in 2021, where Yavor served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Burton led trust and compliance, and Walters managed security operations.
Burton explains that having team members with different backgrounds enhances their ability to tackle unfamiliar challenges. “When you encounter something that you haven’t seen before, everyone is able to actually relate to something that they have, in fact, experienced,” she says. In contrast, a team composed of individuals with identical training and professional experiences risks falling into groupthink.
Building Trust in Cloud Security
Credible Security places a strong emphasis on trust as a key component of cybersecurity strategy. With cloud services now integral to daily life, B2B companies must prioritise transparency and security to earn user confidence.
Over the past decade, businesses have made significant progress in assessing and managing risk. However, Yavor believes many still struggle to implement security strategies that align with broader business objectives. “The missing part that Credible Security targets is having consistent strategy and outcomes in evaluating and delivering trust on both sides of the equation [end users and service providers],” he says.
The consultancy helps companies streamline their security approaches, ensuring they are not just meeting the minimum compliance standards but also using security as a competitive advantage. “We are helping our clients simplify their strategies and align them to their actual business objectives so that they have a much easier and more efficient approach to developing not just minimum viable security for whatever their product is, but actually using it as a competitive advantage as they try to earn their customers’ trust and then maintain it through a long-term relationship,” Yavor adds.
Burton stresses that many companies still confuse compliance with trust. “Many businesses think about trust as just meeting compliance checkboxes for auditors. But that’s a backward way of looking at it,” she says. Compliance is merely a tool for verifying trustworthiness; true trust is built when companies demonstrate that they operate with the same values and priorities as their customers.
Experience on Both Sides of the Table
One of Credible Security’s key differentiators is the team’s experience as both buyers and developers of security products.
“All three of us have these layered experiences of both things we’ve done or built, but then also seeing teams and brands that really showed up in a way that we would want family members to experience,” Walters says. This hands-on understanding allows them to approach security challenges with practical insights.
Yavor believes this deep industry experience sets the company apart. “That’s actually one of the most exciting differentiators about our company—that all three of us, we haven’t just been in the industry, we have been in the roles that we are seeking to help,” he says. “We’ve actually done the work.”
As cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, Credible Security is betting that its holistic approach—blending technical expertise with trust-building and strategic insight—will help businesses strengthen their defences in an increasingly complex digital landscape.
